


A Demon's Gratitude

by LyriaBlackFrost



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Fluff, Kitsune Yusuke, Light-Hearted, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 14:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17602964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyriaBlackFrost/pseuds/LyriaBlackFrost
Summary: During a school trip to an old shrine, Ryuji shields a fox from the rain, not expecting to meet that same animal again ten years later, waiting for him at that same place.





	A Demon's Gratitude

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was based on [an adorable idea/fanart by lenle92](http://lenle92.tumblr.com/post/182428034882/ryukita-week-day-4-au-when-on-a-class-trip-to-a). Thanks a lot for sharing your lovely work!
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

It wasn’t like Ryuji expected much from a school trip, but that one was being particularly _boring_. He just didn’t get what was so interesting about an old shrine… Maybe it was something just old people could enjoy, just like the melodramatic soap-operas his grandmother was always watching when he visited her. And, as if that wasn’t enough, when the trip was already coming to an end, it started to rain.

“This sucks…” complained Ryuji to his friend, Akira. “I just wanna go home.”

Thankfully, since it was a rainy season, the school told them to bring their umbrellas, so the two boys managed to make their way back to the bus without being completely drenched. As they walked, however, a small group of kids from their class called their attention: they were laughing and pointing at something that, at first, Ryuji believed to be a weird plant.

“What is it doing?” asked a girl, covering her mouth to try and suppress a giggle. “Does it think that leaf is an umbrella?”

Her words made Ryuji pay more attention to that thing, soon realizing that, under that big leaf he initially saw, was what seemed to be a small ball of white fur. A fox, that desperately tried to hold that big leaf above its head with its mouth, without much success.

“Poor thing…” said Akira.

Ryuji furrowed his brow, watching the animal for a few more seconds, before sighing, glancing at his friend.

“Be right back,” he said.

“What…? Ryuji?”

He carefully approached the fox, who, upon noticing his presence, stared at him with bright golden eyes, growling. Ryuji stopped where he was, a few feet away from the small creature, unsure of how to proceed.

“Hey, Ryuji!” he heard the voice of one of his classmates behind him. “What are you doing? Get away from it before it bites you!”

But he didn’t do as the boy said, instead, looking at the fox, offering it a small, nervous smile.

“Hey, buddy…” he said.

The fox growled again.

“Don’t worry,” he proceeded in a low, calm voice. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

He risked another step, getting at arm’s reach from the animal, who kept looking at him, suspicious. Carefully, Ryuji held his umbrella over it, shielding it from the rain.

“Better now, right?” he asked.

As expected, there was no answer from the fox, who simply looked at him with confused eyes.

“Hey, Ryuji!” he heard Akira’s voice close to him. “We have to go!”

“Ah, okay!”

With that, he placed his umbrella on the ground, in a way that would protect the fox from the rain. Then, taking a last glance at the animal, he ran to Akira’s direction, getting under his umbrella.

“Ah, it’s freezing!” he said.

“What did you expect, you idiot?” answered Akira with a funny smile that lacked a front tooth, and which soon turned into a pout, as Ryuji got closer to him to escape the rain. “Hey, don’t take it all to yourself!”

Ryuji ignored his protests, and the two of them awkwardly shared that small umbrella as they walked. Ryuji glanced one last time over his shoulder, seeing the fox’s head turned in his direction, still staring at him. With a light smile, he waved at it, hoping the poor animal wouldn’t feel so cold anymore.

 

* * *

 

He still remembered that place, from almost ten years ago. To be honest, it hadn’t been such a fun school trip, and his greatest memory of it was the nasty cold he woke up to on the next day.

Well… That and the fox. He could still clearly remember that small, white ball of fur trying to take shelter under a leaf. The memory made him smile to himself as he made his way to the offering box. He had never been a religious, or superstitious kind of person, but his entrance exams were getting closer each day, and… Considering his brain, a little bit of divine help wouldn’t be a bad idea.

He deposited a few coins in the box, closing his eyes, making a brief prayer. If it hadn’t been for his mother and friend’s incentive, he would probably have given up on the idea of becoming a physiotherapist. But, despite his low grades in school, they still believed in and rooted for him, and that was enough for Ryuji to at least be willing to try. And, for his surprise — and some help from Makoto and Haru — he managed to not only improve his grades, but also come to believe he had a chance. A small one, maybe, but still a chance.

He just wanted to make some kind of difference. Especially when he still limped a little from an old injury caused by a teacher during his first year of high school. It was a silly thought, but he wanted to stop such a thing from happening to other kids like him, or at least make sure they didn’t carry an injury like that for the rest of their lives.

He opened his eyes again, taking a deep breath. Well, he had now done everything he could, so, even if he failed, at least he would have a clear conscience. He turned his back to the shrine, so he could make his way back to the station, and that’s when he saw it, a few feet away, looking straight at him with its golden eyes.

The fox.

Ryuji couldn’t hold back a surprised smile, approaching the animal with wide steps.

“Hey…” he said, crouching in front of the fox, looking at its face. “You still here, buddy?”

He carefully offered his hand to the fox, waiting to see if it would approach him. It did, touching his hand with its muzzle, closing its eyes. It was so cute… Ryuji wondered if it would be too much to pet its head, or…

A strong, bluish light blinded him for a moment, and Ryuji tried to, instinctively, cover his face with his hand. However, something held it in place, and when Ryuji finally managed to open his eyes again, the fox was gone.

Instead, in its place, there was a tall, lean guy with pale skin and dark-blue hair, staring at him with bright golden eyes, contoured by what he believed to be a heavy layer of eyeshadow. He stared at Ryuji with an excited smile, holding his hand between his.

Ryuji thought his heart was going to stop.

“I’m so happy to meet you again, human,” said the strange person. “I’ve been waiting for your return for all these years.”

“Waiting…?” repeated Ryuji, his voice sounding slightly squeaky. “Who… Who the fuck are you?”

“My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself.” Saying that, the guy let go of his hand, taking a step back, bowing in an overly formal gesture. “My name is Yusuke Kitagawa, and I am what you humans call a kitsune.”

“Kitsune?”

“A fox demon.”

“No, I mean… I know what a kitsune is, but…”

Yeah… He was hallucinating for sure.

Ryuji blinked a few times, half expecting the person before him to disappear, but he didn’t. He covered his eyes with a hand, crouching on the ground. It should be the sun…

“I think my brain’s melting…” he groaned.

He felt a pair of hands hold him by the shoulders, and he soon heard that same, polite voice again.

“Are you feeling unwell?” asked Yusuke, concerned. “Do you require any assistance?”

Ryuji uncovered his eyes, staring at the kitsune for a while, reaching for his face, poking his cheek with a finger.

“You look real,” he said.

“Why, of course.”

He tried to make sense of the situation, but it was hard to. So, instead of questioning his sanity any further, Ryuji decided to take it step by step.

“So…” he said, after hesitating a little. “You said you were waiting for me…?”

Yusuke nodded.

“Precisely,” he said. “To repay you from your kindness toward me.”

“Kindness? You mean my umbrella?”

“You shielded both me and my precious work from the rain,” explained Yusuke. “I can only hope to be capable of repaying such a selfless gesture.”

“Aren’t you exaggerating a little?” asked Ryuji with a nervous tone. “And you said work… I don’t remember seeing anything other than you back then.”

“The leaf must have hidden it from your sight. It was a painting… Not my best work, but one that I still treasured with my whole being.”

Ryuji furrowed his brow.

“Can foxes paint?” he asked. “No, more importantly… What happened to it?”

“I managed to take it back to the demon realm as soon as I recovered my powers.”

“Recovered? Were you hurt, or somethin’?”

“I was too cold to travel between worlds.”

That conversation was starting to make Ryuji’s head hurt.

“Well, as long as everything’s fine…” he said.

Yusuke nodded in agreement. Ryuji observed that weird, strangely beautiful demon, who still looked at him with an excitement he was barely able to hold back, and couldn’t help but smile.

“Okay, then…” he said. “So, what are you planning to do to repay me?”

“Protect you, naturally,” answered Yusuke. “As well as bring you joy and merriment, and slay your foes without mercy.”

“Right… But maybe we should forget the ‘slay’ part,” said Ryuji. “And you can just leave the temple, like that? I thought kitsunes were guardians, or somethin’ like that.”

“To repay a favor, yes.”

“And for how long are you planning to stick with me?”

“What an absurd question!” Yusuke laughed to himself, before looking into Ryuji’s eyes. “For your whole life, of course!”

“Whole…?”

Suddenly, the whole world seemed to be spinning around him, and he had to place a hand on Yusuke’s shoulder not to lose his balance.

“Okay… Whole life… That’s normal…” he muttered under his breath, then raised his eyes to the kitsune. “So, Yusuke… Do you mind if we finish this conversation somewhere else? I think I might die if I stay under the sun for any longer than this.”

“Shall I carry you to somewhere cooler?”

“No!” Ryuji’s voice sounded louder than he expected, so he lowered it when he proceeded. “No, it’s fine… I can still walk.”

“As you wish, master.”

Those words made a shiver go down his spine.

“Please, skip the master…” he asked. “Just call me Ryuji.”

“As you wish, Ryuji.”

Yusuke had a happy expression on his face, and Ryuji found it hard not to feel a bit attached to him already. Even if it proved to be some kind of hallucination, and he woke up later on a hospital bed, victim of a heatstroke, he decided to go along with it for the moment, walking alongside that strange demon all the way back to the station, and to his home.

But, to his own shock, it turned out not to be a dream, and how he convinced his mother that they should adopt a wild fox — who also turned out to be her future son-in-law — was a whole new story.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this fic, kudos and comments are highly appreciated! ♥


End file.
